Vending machine



.1. BERLAND 1,812,232

VENDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 13, 1929 4 Sheet's-Sheet l June 30, 1931mwmulnlwwqmmmmmmmmmmmmmlummw Q c2225 ep/L e-Zawd,

INVENTOR.

A ToRNEv.

J. BERLAND l VENDING MACHINE `Filel Nov. 13, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 June30, 1931.

\N w mw o mh June 30, J, BRLAND VENDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 13, 1929 4Sheets-Sheet 3 7. Aff?.

A from/EY.

June 30, 1931. I J, BERLAND 1,812,232

VENDING MACHINE ITTORXE) Patented June 30, 1931 UNITED sTATEs 4:PATENTOFFICE JOSEPH BEELA'ND, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOB T0 ISAAC BEBLAN D,Olli'- CLEVELAND, OHIO VENDING MACHINE Application filed November 13,1829. Serial No. 406,808.

This invention relates to an improved vending machine in which lmeansare provided to discharge a newspaper or other article from within acasing when freed by 6 a coin or coins.

An object of the present invention 1s. to provide a vending machine ofthe above kind embodying an mechanism which may be set sothat an desiredone or more of several coins of di ferent denominations may be requiredto operate it, according to the currentprice of the article or newspaperbeing vended.

A further object is to provide changedelivering means which may be setto deliver any one of several different amountsl of change when thecoin-controlled mechanlsm Vis set for operation by a coin whosedenomination is greater than the prlce ofthe newspaper being vended, andaccording to thev difference between the denomination of such coin andsuch price of the newspaper.

With the above general objects in View, and many others that will becomeappar- Vent as the nature of the invention is better understood, thesame consists in the novel form, combination and arrangement of partshereinafter more fully described, vshown in the accompanying drawings,and claimed.

In the drawings:

. Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly broken away, of a vendingmachine embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of chine as shown in Figure 1.

l Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section on line 3--3 ofFigure 1.

' Figure 4 is a vertical transverse section taken substantilly on line4-4-of Figure 3, parts bing omitted.

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on line 5-5 of Figure4 to show details of the coin-controlled mechanism.

' Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section on line 6-6 of Figure 4.

Figure 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the reciprocating coinVreceiver and mover.

the 'ma- Figure 8 is a developed elevation show' 5- ing the severalcoin-released detents which improved coin-controlled control movement ofthe coin receiver and mover.`

Figure 9 is a fragmentary vertical section through the coin tubes andassociated parts of the change delivering means; and

Figure 10 is a bottom plan View of th construction shown in Figure 9. 1

Referring in detail to the drawings, 5 indicates an upright rectangularcasing which is divided by means of a horizontal partition 6 into anupper compartment 7 and a lower compartment 8. The front of the uppercompartment 7 is closed by means of a horizontally Swingin door 9 whichis hinged to one side o the casing as at 10, o5 and which may be lockedin closed position by any suitable means. The compartment 7 is adaptedto receive a stack of newspapers 11 to be vended, the same resting upona sliding ejector plate 12 which slides on rails 70 or wear strips 13secured on the partition 6. The ejector plate 12 has an upstanding iange14 at its rear edge of a height to en age the back of the lowermostnewspaper on and to project the latter `through the front of the casingwhen saidejector plate is slid forwardly through a discharge slot 15provided in the front of thecasing at the bottom of the upper newspapercompartment. The discharge slot 15 is provided by 80 bending the loweredge portion of the door 9 forwardly to provide aninclined apron 16which overhangs the slot l5 so as to protect the newspapers in thecompartment from the elements in inclement weather. Attached to thefront of the casing directly behind the apron 16 is a verticallyadjustable slide strip 17 adapted to -be set the required distance abovethe partition 6 to regulate the size of the slot 15 and permit dischargeof only the 90 lowermost newspaper through said slot, according to thevarying thicknesses of the newspapers vended at different times. Theejector plate 12 is guided ina. rectilinear direction by means of adepending arm 18 05 rigid therewith and projecting through an elongatedslot 19 provided in the partition 6. A verticall swinging lever 20pivoted at one end to tlie back of the casing5 within the lowercompartment 8, asV at The l@ lever 20 projects forwardly through avertically elongated slot 22 provided in the upper central portion ofthe door 23, which closes the front of the lower compartment 8, and theintermediate ortion of said lever 20 is connected by a link 24 to thelower en d of the arm 18. It is thus apparent that when the lever 20 ismanually depressed, the ejector plate 12 will be slid forwardly toproject the lowcrmost newspaper 11 outwardly through the discharge slot15 for a sufficient distance so that it may be grasped and entirelyremoved. The link 24 is steadied and supplemented in its action by meansof a shorter link 25 pivoted to the under side of the partition 6 andextending downwardly and rearwardly where it is pivoted to the link 24intermediate the ends of the latter. A spring 26 normally raises thelever 20 and returns the ejector plate 12 to its rearward position readyfor the next newspaper ejecting operation.

Coin-released means are provided for normally locking the lever 20substantially in its raised position, so that it may not be operated todispense a newspaper unless a coin or coins of the required kind aredeposited in the machine. These means include a vertically swinginglever 27 pivoted to the rear side of door 23 to swing in a planeparallel with the latter, and having a plate 28 rigid with its tree endwhich is formed with a shoulder 29 disposed directly under the lever 20.The plate 28 is arranged to overlie and close the portion of slot 22below the lever 20 when the latter is raised, thereby preventing freeentrance of rain, dirt, or the like into the casing. Toggle links 30 arerespectively pivoted to the intermediate portion of lever 27 and to thedoor 23, while the pivotally connected ends o said toggle links 30 arealso connected by means of a link 31 with the stem 32 of a reciprocatingcoin receiver and mover 33. The coin receiver and mover 33 consists of ablock slidably mounted between spaced guides 34 fixed to the door 23,and having three slots 35, 36, and 37 in one end registering with therespective ones of coin slots 35a, 36a and 37a provided in the door 23.The stem 32 of the block 33 slidably extends through a xed guide 38 sothat said block 33 is held in position against the inner face of thedoor 23. Pivoted to the guide 38 are a plurality of detents 39, 40, 40a,40o, and 41, all having projecting bills 42 at their free ends. Thedetent 39 is carried by a thick plate 43, and its bill 42 projects intothe slot 35 of block'33. The bills of the three detents 40, 40a and 40?)project into the slot 36 of block 33, and the bill of detent 41 projectsinto the slot 31 thereof. The detents 40, 40a, 401) and 41 areseparately pressed forwardly to enter their bills 42 into the respectiveslots 36 and 37, by means of springs 44. Each spring 44 is attached atone end to the associated detent and bears at its other end on a bracket45 attached to the guide 38. A transverse shoulder 46 is formed on theinner face of the block 33 near its inner end, and the detents 40, 40a,and 406 have projecting teeth 47 which are normally arranged in the pathof said shoulder for engaging the latter and preventing sufficientmovement of the block 33 and the lever 20 to effect ejection of anewspaper from the compartment 7. As shown in Figure 5, however, theteeth 47 are spaced from the shoulder 46 so that the block 33 may bemoved a limited distance by means of the lever 20, thus allowing theblock to shove the coin or coins past the bills 42 of the operativedetents so as to `release the latter preparatory to further depressionof lever 2O and ejection of a newspaper. On the other hand, should acoin not be in position within a. slot of the block 33 to release anyoperative detent, the tooth of that detent will engage the shoulder 46so that further movement of the block will be prevented. This willarrest the depression of lever 20 and prevent sufficient movement of theejector slide 12 to eject the newspaper.

It is to be noted that the slot 35a is of a size to admit a dime, but toprevent the insertion of a coin of larger size than a dime, while theslot 36a is of a size to admit a penny and to prevent the insertion of acoin larger than a penny. In a like manner, the slot 37m is of a size toadmit a nickel, but to prevent the insertion of a coin larger than anickel. Correspondingly, the bill of the detent 39 is of a form so thata coin smaller than a dime will not swing said dent 39 sufficiently torelease the block 33 when it is moved by means of lever 30 and the billsof detents 40, 40a, and 406 are of a form so that coins smaller thanpennies will not swing them sufficiently to move their teeth 47 out ofthe path of shoulder 46. Pivoted beside the detent 41 is a latch plate48 having a tooth 47a. A bolt 49 passes through a slot 50 and a hole 51of the latch plate 48 and detent 41 respectively, to secure the sameagainst relative movement. By loosening the nut on bolt 49, the latchplate may be moved relative to the detent 41 to project the tooth 47abeyond the edge oi detent 41 in the path of shoulder 46 or to retractthe tooth 47 a inwardly of* such edge and out of the path of saidshoulden By tightening the nut on bolt 49 the latch plate 48 may befixed in either position relative to the detent 41, thus rendering thelatter operative or inoperative, at will. The detents and the latchplate 48 are all notched as at 52 near their free ends to engage over across bar 53 which bridges the guides 34, whereby that the slot 36 inthe block 33 is of a width to receive as many as three pennies at onetime in stacked or superimposed relation. As the slot 36a is disposednear the top of slot 36, these pennies may be inserted one at a time,each to cooperate with a different one of the detents 40, 40a and 406.It will also be seen that the first penny inserted will drop to aposition so as to only operate to release the detent 406, while thesecond penny inserted will drop to a position so as to only operate torelease the detent 40a, the third penny inserted being directlypositioned to operate and release the detent 40. The detents, the plate43, and the latch plate 49 are provided with three sets of registeredopenings 54, 55, and 56 adapted for selective reception of a pin 57. Asshown in Figure 8, these openings in the plate 43 and the detent 39 arecircular and adapted for snug reception of the pin 57. This is also trueof the openings 55 and 56 of detent 40, and of openings 56 of detents40a, 406 and 41. On the other hand, the opening 54 of detent 40 and theopenings 54 and 55 of detents 40a, 406 and 41 are variously elongatedtransversely thereof. The openlngs 54, 55 and 56 of latch late 48 areall variously elongated. The orms of these openings is such` that whenthe pin 57 is inserted through the openings 56 of all of the detents,the latter will be caused to move in unison and release the block 33when a single coin of proper denomination is placed in any one of thethree slots 35a, 36a or 37a. Thus, if the nickel slot is left open andthe penny and dime slots are closed, the machine may only be operatedafter insertion of a nic el. Conversel if the penny and nickel slots areclosed andy the dime slot is left open, the machine may only be operatedafter insertion of a dime.

When the pin 57 is inserted through the openings 55 of all of thedetents, the elongated form of the said openings of the detens 40a, 406and 41 will leave the latter all f'ree for independent release so thatall of them must be released before the block 33 can be actuatedsuiiciently to effect the ejection of a newspaper. This will require theinsertion of a nickel and two pennies when the price of the paper isseven cents, the penny slot 36a, and the nickel slot 37a being both leftopen for that purpose. The latch plate 48 is of course operativelypositioned at this time. The same operation takes place when the priceof the paper is eight cents, but the pin 57 is then inserted through theopenings 54 of all of the detents, thereby additionally leaving thedetent 40 free for independent release, along with the detents 40, 406and 4l. Should the price of the newspaper be six cents, the pin 57 isinserted through the openings 56 of the detents 39, 40, 40a and 406, butnot in the opening 56 of detent 41. Vhen this is done, the detents 40,40a and 406 maybe simultaneously released by a single penny acting onthe detent 406, and the remaining active locking detent 41 may then bereleased by inserting a nickel to complete the release of block 33, sothat ejection of a paper may bo effected by depression of lever 20. Bretracting the latch plate 48 so as to ren er it inoperative andinserting the pin 57 in the openings 56 of all detents except detent 41,the machine is set for operation upon insertion of a single penny. Alike condition with the pin transposed to the openings 55 of all detentsexcept detent 41 will set the machine for operation only upon insertionof two pennies, while a mere change of the in at this time to extendthrough the openings 54 of all detents except detent 41 would set themachine for operation only upon insertion of three pennies. .Set screws58 are carried by the plate 43 for engagement with the pin 57 to retainit in its various positions with the openings 54, 55, and 56 of thedetents.

On the outer face of the door 23 is arranged a plate or disk 59 having aslot 60 at one point of a size adapted to permit the passage of a dimetherethrough, but to prevent the passa e of a coin larger than a dirne.At anot er point, the plate 59 has a nickel slot 61 similar to the slot37 while at still another point said plate has adjacent penny and nickelslots 62 and 63, respectively. Pivoted to the inner side of the door 23is a lever 64 which is normally raised by a spring 65, and which has asquare opening to receive the square stem 66 rigid with the center ofthe plate 59. The stem 66 passes through a vertical elongated slot 67 inthe door 23, and is normally raised by the spring 65 along with thelever 64. The stem 66' is removably held in place by a pin 68 or thelike, and by removing this pin, the plate 59 may be detached and turnedto position the slot 60, the slot 61,'or the slots 62 and 63 in verticalalinement with the slots 35a, 36a and 37a. The slots in the plate 59 areso arranged that when said plate is, in its nor-y mally raised position,the particular slot or slots of such plate which is or are verticallyalined with the coin slots of the door 23 will be out of registry withthe latter. For example, the slots'62 and 63 are shown in Figure 6 asvertically alined with the coin slots 35a, 36a and 37a but out ofregistry with the latter when the plate 59 is raised. The slots of door23 are thus normally closed by the plate 59, and by depressing thelatter by means of its handle 69 the slots 62 and 63 are registered withthe corresponding slots 36a and 37a of said door to permit the insertionof pennies and a nickel for effecting operation of the machine, the slot35a being, however,

.the newspaper is one cent.

maintained closed. n arm 70 is rigid with theplever 64 and projectsrearwardly therefrom above the detents. This arm terminates in adepending free end 71 normally elevated out of the path of detent 39land plate 43 but movable into the path of the same when the plate 59 isdepressed to open the coin slot or slots of door 23, thus preventingrearward release movement of the detents while the latter slot or slotsare open. This preventstampering with or release of the detents by meansother than coins, such as a knife, wire or the like.

It is sometimes undesirable to set the coincontrolled mechanism so thatit may only be operated when the customer possesses one or more penniesin change. For instance, it may be desirable to permit Operation of themachine when a nickel is inserted and the price of the newspaper is lessthan live cents. For this purpose, means are provided for deliveringchange to the customer corresponding to the diii'erence between thedenomination of the single coin inserted and the price ora the articleor newspaper. These means embody a group of four vertical pennystoragetubes 72 mounted as at 7 3 in the lower compartment 8 behind thecoincontrolled mechanism. A plate 74 is fixed beneath and in slightlyspaced relation to the lower ends of the tubes 72, said plate havingfour openings corresponding in size and general location with the tubes72, but offset rearwardly to a slight extent relative to the latter. Acorrespondingly apertured slide 75 is mounted between the lower ends ofthe tubes 72 andthe plate 74, such slide being normally yieldinglyretracted toward the front of the casing by means of a spring 76 so thatits apertures are alined with the tubes 72 and arepositioned to receivethe lowermost ones of the pennies stacked in the associated tubes 72. Itis thus apparent that the stacks of pennies in the tubes will benormally supported by the fixed plate 74, and that the lower penny ofeach stack will be positioned in an aperture of the slide 75. Thus, whenthe slide75 is moved rearwardly four pennies will be carried rearwardlythereby to positions in registry with the openings of plate 74, and ifthe latter openings are all left open, all four pennies will bedischarged therethrough into a coin-return chute 77 disposedbeneath thetubes. The chute 77 leads to anopening 78 in the door 23 so that thecustomer may readily remove the change so delivered. Thus, if themachine is operated by the insertion of a nickel, four pennies changewill be delivered to the customer when the price of By closing one ormore of the openings of plate 74, the number of pennies change deliveredmaybe varied according to any change in the price of the paper up to:four cents. For this purremesa pose, a plate 79 is provided forattachment to the under side of plate 74, by suitable means 80, in anydesired one of four diilerent positions to respectively close' eitherone, two, three or .all of the openings of said plate 74. Obviously, theplate 79 may be set so that one penny change will be delivered when theprice of the paper is Jfour cents and the machine is set for operationby inserting a nickel, or when the price of the paper is nine cents andthe machine is set for operation by inserting a dime. It will be notedthat the block 33 and guides 34 are slightly inclined so that the coinswill be delivered from the block 33 by gravity, after actuation of saidblock and upon its return to normal position after each vendingoperation.

ln operating the machine, we will assume that the machine is set asshown in the drawings with the pin 57 engaged in the openings 56 ofdetents 39, 40, 40a and 405, but not in the opening 56 of detent 4l. Thelatch plate 48 is also in projected or in an operative position, and theslots 62 and 63 are disposed to be registered with the slots 36a and3703 when the plate 59 is depressed. These conditions maintain when theprice of the newspaper is six cents, and when a nickel is inserted tooccupy a position in the slot 37 of block 33 and a penny is inserted tooccupy a position in the slot 36 thereof, the lever 20 is depressed soas to cause such penny'and nickel to be moved by the block under thebills 42 of the detents 405 and 41. This swings the detent 40?) so thatits tooth 47 is moved out of the path of shoulder 46, and as the detents40 and 40a are caused to move with the detent 405 by means of the pin57, the teeth 47 of said detents 40 and 40a are also moved out of thepath of shoulder 46. At the same time, such operation causes separatemovement of the detent`41 so that the tooth 47a of its latch plate 48 isalso .whence they fall onto the bottom of the casing 5I at one side ofthe chute 77. The lever 20 is then released so that the spring 26 mayreset or return the various associated movable parts to normal positionand to permit the springs 44 to lreturn the detents to normal position.

It will be understood that the front end of the slide 75 is disposed inthe path of detent 4l so that it will be automatically Lamezia operatedby said detent to deliver change when said detent 41 is released and oneor more of'the openings of plate 74`is or are left o en. Thel openingsof-plate 74 are all close or no coins are placed in the tubes v72,however, when the machine is set for any operation wherein the deliveryof no change is desired2 such as when the price of the paper is sixcents and the machine is set as Just described.

The door 23 is preferably hinged at the bottom as at 81, to swingdownwardly to open posit-ion, and suitablemeans 82 are provided to lockthesaid door in closed position.

From the above description, it is believed that the construction andoperation ofthe invention will be readily understood by those skilled inthe art.

Minor changes are contemplated within the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed.

What I claim as new is: v 1. In a vending machine, a coincontrolledmechanism including a rec1procating coin receiver and mover, aplurality'of coin-released pivoted detents, certainof said detents beingY tions.

2. In a vending machine, a reciprocating block having slots forreception of coins of different denominations, one of said slots beingadapted for.reception of a plurality of coins of onel denominatiom'aplurality of independent coin-released detents associ ated with the lastnamed slot and normally spring-pressed into position tov arrest movementof said reciprocating block, further coin-released detents respectivelyassociated with each of the remaining slots, and means to render one ofthe last named detents operative or inoperative to arrest movement ofsaid reciprocating block, at will.

3. In a vending machine, a` reciprocating block having slots forreception of coins of diierent denominations, one of said slots beingada ted for reception of a plurality of coins o one denomination, aplurality of .independent coin-released detents associated with the lastnamed slot and normally spring-pressed into position to arrest movementof said reciprocating block, further' coin-released detents respectivelyassociated with each of the remaining slots, and means to render one ofthe last named detents operative or inoperative to arrest movement ofsaid reciprocating block, 'at -will and means'to selectivelinter-connect certain or all of said detents 1n any desired one of sevleral ways to permit release of the block upon insertion of yone coin ofeither denomination or upon insertion of several coins of differentdenominations.

4. In avendng machine, a reciprocating coins o block having slots forkreception o different denominations, one of said slots being adaptedfor' reception of a lurality of coins of one denomination, a p uralityof independent coin-released detents associated with the last named slotand normally i spring-pressed into position to arrest movement of saidreciprocating block, further coin-released detents respectivelyassociated with each of the remainingslots, and means to render one ofthe last named detents operative or inoperative to arrest movement of`said reciprocating block, at will and means to selectively inter-connectcertain or all of said detents in any desired one of several ways topermit release of the block upon insertion of one coin of eitherdenomination or upon insertion of several coins of ldifferentdenomination, a casing having coin slots registered with the slots ofsaid block means normally closing said coin slots o the .casing andmovable and adjustable to uncover any 'desired one or several of the.

same, and means operable by said coin slot closing means for preventingrelease of the detents while a slotfor slots of the casing areuncovered.

, 5. In a vending machine, a recigirocating with the last named slotand, normally spring-pressed into position to arrest move- `ment of saidreciprocating block, further coin-released detents respectivelyassociated with each of the remaining slots, and means to render one ofthe last named detents operative or inoperative lto arrest movement ofsaid reciprocating block, at will and means to selectively inter-connectcertain or all of said detentsin any desired one of several ways topermit release of the block upon insertion of one coin of eitherdenomination or upon insertion of several coins of diierentdenominations, and means operable by one of said detents for deliveringchange.

6. In a vending machine, a reci rocating block having slots forreception o coins of different denominations, one of said slots beingada ted for reception of a plurality of coins o one denomination, aplurality4 of independent coin-released detents associated with the lastnamed slo't and normally spring-pressed into position to arrest movementof said reciprocating block, further l independent coin-released detentsassociated coin-released detents respectively associated.

' with each of the remaining slots, and means to render one of the lastnamed detents operated or inoperative to arrest movement of saidreciprocating block, at will and means to selectively inter-connectcertain or all of said detents in any desired one of several Waystopermit release of the block upon insertion of one coin of eitherdenomination or upon insertion of several coins of differentdenominations, and means to vary the amount of change delivered by saidlast named means when operated by said detent.

7 Ina vending machine, a reciprocating block having slots for receptionof coins of different denominations, one of said slots being ada ted forreception of a plurality of coins o one denomination, a plurality ofindependent coin-released detents associated with the last named slotand normally spring-pressed into position to arrest movement of saidreciprocating block, further coin-released detents respectivelyassociated with each of the remaining slots, and means to render one ofthe last named detents operative or inoperative to arrest movement ofsaid reciprocating block, at will, said detents having a plurality ofsets of registered openings, certain of said registered openings beingcircular and the rest being variously elongated transversely of thedetents, and a pin selectively positionable in any desired set ofopenings of certain or all of said detents to vary the `denomination ornumber of coins required to be inserted to effect release of said block.

8. In a vending machine, a reciprocating block having slots forreception of coins of different denominations, one of said slots beingadapted for reception of a plurality of coins of one denomination, aplurality of independent coin-released detents associated with the lastnamed slot and normally spring-pressed into position to arrest movementof said reciprocating block, further coin-released detents respectivelyassociated with each of the remaining slots, and means to render one ofthe last named de.- tents operative or inoperative to arrest movement ofsaid reciprocating block, at will, an opera-ting lever operativelyconnected to said block, an article ejector operatively connected tosaid lever, and a spring to yieldinglyiraise said lever and reset saidblock and said article ejector.

9. In a vending machine, a movable coin receiver, coin-released lockingdetents therefor, means to selectively inter-connect said detents in anyone-of several Ways to control the denomination or number of coinsrequired to unlock said coin receiver, an

article ejector, and an operating lever operatively connected to saidcoin-receiver and sald artlcle ejector.

10. In a vending machlne, a movable coin receiver, coin-released lockingdetents therefor, means to selectively inter-connect said detents in anyone of several ways to control the denomination or number of coinsrequired to unlock said coin receiver, an article ejector, and anoperating lever operatively connected to said coin-receiver and saidarticle ejector, and means to render one oiilaid detents operative orinoperative, at W1 11. In a vending machine, a movable coin receiver,coin-released locking detents therefor, means to selectivelyinter-connect said detents in any one of several Ways to control thedenomination or number of coins required to unlock said coin receiver,an article ejector, and an operating lever operatively connected to saidcoin-receiver and said article ejector, and means to render one of saiddetents operative or inoperative, at will, and change delivering meansoperatively connected to the last named detent.

l2. In a vending machine, a movable coin receiver, coin-released lockingdetents therefor, means to selectively inter-connect said detents in anyone of several Ways to control the denomination or number of coinsrequired to unlock said coin receiver, an article ejector, and anoperating lever operatively connected to said coin-receiver and saidarticle ejector, and means to render one of said detents operative orinoperative, at Will, and change delivering means operatively connectedto the last named detent, and an adjustable plate for controlling theamount of change delivered by said change delivering means.

In testimony whereof I aiiX my signature.

JOSEPH BERLND.

` aus

